Europa Space Agency
The Europa Space Agency (ESA) is an organization which does space exploration. It is based in Rome, Europa. History The ESA was founded on June 1, 1958 as Europa wanted to send communications satellites into space. The Fortuna Space Center was built in 1962, replacing an old airbase as the main launch site. The ESA sent rockets with satellites up into space in 1961, and soon set up a network consisting of communications, weather and military satellites. Exploration to the moon began in the 1970's Programs Manned flight The ESA first sent astronauts into space in the Saturn Space Program in the early 1960s. This was followed by the Ceres Space Program, which consisted of having manned flights to orbit and study the moon. The Moon The Luna Space Program was a ESA program to land men on the moon. The early stages (1965-1967) consisted of unmanned probes circulating the moon and landing on it. The ESA first put a man on the moon in 1970. Astronauts Guglielmo Conti and Victor Jankovic became the first Europan men on the moon. Subsequent moon landings were carried out until 1982 which consisted of manned landingss. This was followed by the Habitas Program (began in 1977) which has sent men to live on lunar bases for up to 6 months and on Mars bases for 2 weeks. Mars The ESA's mars exploration program began in 1977 with the Mars Space Program. This consisted of unmanned probes orbiting the planet and taking atmospheric samples. This was followed up by the Vulcan Space Program, which sent stationary probes and later rovers to Mars' surface. This program oficially ended in 2003. It was succeded by the Habitas 9 and 10 missions, which achieved short-term stays on Mars. Solar System and beyond The Libertas Space Program of the late 1970s and 1980s sent probes to study Venus, Saturn's moons and the planet Neptune. The Libertas 5 probe is now the furthest Europan object, which is now in deep space. The Cosmos Space Program followed the Libertas program. Their goal was to do what Libertas 5 had done, but going past the sun. This mission is still ongoing and has been complemented by the Astros Space Program which ha sent probes to study Jupiter, Saturn and their moons. Military The ESA was responsible for sending WARSATs up in the 1990s. In 2001 it began construction of a small space station, which many had originally assumed would be used for military purposes. The chairman of the ESA, Peter Jankovic released in a press conference that the station's role is to be used to determine the viability of long-term space habitation. Vehicles Space Shuttles Supermarelli The ESA began designing space shuttles in the late 1950s beginning with the Supermarelli concepts. It was followed by the unsuccessful Venus Space Program. Janus Program The Janus Space Program was the first successful spaceship program of the ESA. Vesta Space Program The Vesta Space Program (1996-2005) Jupiter Space Program The Jupiter Space Program began in 2007. Rockets The ESA has flown rockets beginning with the Titian Class in 1961. Category:Organizations Category:Europa Category:ESA